FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a rail vehicle having an air-suspended coach body, cars (bogies) on which the coach body rests, in particular bolsterless air-suspended cars, and air springs on which the coach body swings out on. The rail vehicle also has guide and damping devices disposed in each case between the coach body and the cars. The damping devices serve to stabilize the cars at traveling speeds of v &gt;100 km/h and suppress the sway of the cars.
It is generally known that, as a result of the wave-like sequence of motions of the wheel sets guided in the cars, the cars are caused to sway as speed increases. Furthermore, it is known to provide oil-hydraulic sway dampers or alternatively friction plates disposed between the car and the associated coach body for stabilizing the cars.
Sway dampers are normally used in air-suspended, bolsterless cars where the coach body swings out on the air spring. The use of sway dampers for stabilizing cars is comparatively complicated and costly. In addition, sway dampers add to the weight of a rail vehicle. Furthermore, a failure analysis of the sway damping is always required. Therefore, sway dampers may require a single-redundant construction, that is, the dampers are to be provided in duplicate, and, in addition or as an alternative, possibly require continuous monitoring of the cars by appropriate sensor elements.
Depending on the type and the configuration of the cars, stabilization is required starting at traveling speeds of 100 to 120 km/h. As the speed increases, the stabilizing effect must increase, which in turn has an adverse effect on the tracking forces when traveling on curves. Therefore, stabilization should be provided only as necessary.